July 10, 2005

The Independent and Guardian newspapers both published the same letter by Tony Greenstein today:

Nothing and no one can excuse the horrific carnage and explosions in London and the appalling suffering of the victims. However, the ritual condemnation of terrorism by Tony Blair, Michael Howard et al merely reinforces the belief of those who carry out these atrocities that the west is being hypocritical and self-serving.

Earlier this week we learned that 17 people in an Afghan village had been killed by US bombing. Reporters still aren't able to operate from Falluja, where civilian areas have been laid to waste by the intense bombardment, including hospitals, with the inevitable consequence of civilian deaths. There have been repeated reports from Iraq of the aerial bombardment of towns near the Syrian border.

In the infamous words of General Tommy Franks, who directed the Iraqi invasion, "we don't do body counts". Is it any wonder that, in the face of this utter contempt for the lives of people in the developing world, some people have assumed that the only terrorism western leaders condemn is that in which we are the victims?Tony GreensteinBrighton